Myricaceae family plants typically include resinous trees or shrubs having evergreen or deciduous leaves. Family characteristics of plants of the Myricaceae family are well known and established. Such plants include Comptonia peregrina, Comptonia ceterach, Myrica asplenfolia, Liquidamber peregrina, Myrica comptonia, Myrica peregrina, Gale palustris, Myrica gale, Myrica palustris, Myrica cerifera, Myrica pusilla, Cerothammus ceriferus and Cerothammus pusilla. 
Comptonia peregrina (L.) Coulter (“sweet fern”) is a shrub of the Myricaceae family. It is also known as Myrica asplenifolia or Myrica peregrina. It is not actually a fern but a low deciduous rhizomatous shrub, with fernlike foliage. It is a woody plant found in the North Woods, New Brunswick, New England, the Great Lakes region, Saskatchewan, Georgia, and North Dakota.
Historically Mi'kmaq used the leaves to treat poison ivy rashes. Plant materials from C. peregrina have also been used as potpourri and tea for relieving symptoms of dysentery. Further, its fruits are eaten as food and the fresh leaves are used as lining for fruit baskets to preserve the fruits.
As well, the Ojibwe of northern Wisconsin and other Indian cultures as well as European settlers and more modern herbalists have used the leaves of this plant in the treatment of stomach ailments and dermatological problems, such as psoraisis, eczema and skin cancers. Previous chemical and biological investigations of this plant described in the literature have primarily focused on the volatile oil and flavonoid components of this plant.
For other diseases, such as bacterial diseases, antimicrobial resistance is an ever growing problem. For example, see comments by Linda Brenon on the FDA web site <http://www.fda.gov/fdac/ifeatures/2002/402_bugs.html>. Bacteria that resist not only single, but multiple, antibiotics have become increasingly widespread—making some diseases particularly hard to control. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), virtually all significant disease-causing bacteria in the world are becoming resistant to the antibiotic treatment of choice. For some patients, bacterial resistance could mean more visits to the doctor, a lengthier illness, and possibly more toxic drugs. For others, it could mean death. The CDC estimates that each year, nearly 2 million people in the United States acquire an infection while in a hospital, resulting in 90,000 deaths. More than 70 percent of the bacteria that cause these infections are resistant to at least one of the antibiotics commonly used to treat them.
Antibiotic resistance, also known as antimicrobial resistance, is not a new phenomenon. Just a few years after the first antibiotic, penicillin, became widely used in the late 1940s, penicillin-resistant infections emerged that were caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). These “staph” infections range from urinary tract infections to bacterial pneumonia. Methicillin, one of the strongest in the arsenal of drugs to treat staph infections, is no longer effective against some strains of S. aureus. Vancomycin, which is the most effective drug against these resistant pathogens, may be in danger of losing its effectiveness; recently, some strains of S. aureus that are resistant to vancomycin have been reported.
Although resistant bacteria have been around a long time, the scenario today is different from even just 10 years ago, as suggested by the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics. The number of bacteria resistant to many different antibiotics has increased, tenfold or more. Even new drugs that have been approved are confronting resistance, fortunately in small amounts.
Accordingly, the need exists for further investigating new drugs such as antibiotics, antimicrobials, anthelmintics, compounds and derivatives, which have so far not been discovered to counter increasing bacterial resistance of currently known compounds and derivatives. Of course, the compounds and derivatives of the present invention may be used in a multitude of situations where these anti-infective and/or anthelmintic properties and capabilities are desired. Thus, the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited to application in connection with those preferred embodiments described in the present invention.